Sailor Moon Crystal "Act 3 - Rei - Sailor Mars"

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Sailor Moon Crystal: Act 3 - "Rei - Sailor Mars" starts off with the evil Queen Beryl talking to Jadeite, and once again, she's not happy that he hasn't located the "Legendary Silver Crystal," because he has failed the queen two times already. This episode also introduces two more of the "Four Kings of Dark Kingdom," Nephrite and Zoisite to this new series. Nephrite tells Jadeite that the evil entities he creates are weak, because they're made of clay, and Nefrite feels like he could do a better job at getting energies for the queen and locate the "Legendary Silver Crystal." Jadeite asks Queen Beryl what the "Legendary Silver Crystal" is, and she tells the three "kings" what kind of power it possesses, but that's all the information she's giving out for now. The queen sends Jadeite out on another mission. After this opening scene, we get a first glimpse of Rei Hino, the sailor guardian whom fans know as Sailor Mars, and she feels something bad is about to happen.

The story is about a "Demon 6:00 PM Bus" that passes by Sendaizakaue, where people who board never return. At school, we see Usagi fast asleep at her desk in her classroom. Luna comes in and tries to wake her up, telling Usagi that she has to meet up with Ami, but Usagi won't budge. The only thing that wakes Usagi up is when Luna tells her that Ami's meeting her at the arcade. As Luna and Ami talk outside of the arcade, Usagi's inside playing her favorite Sailor V arcade game, and she wins another prize from the machine, like she did in the previous episode, only this time she wins a watch, not a pen. From here the three board a bus, and this is where Usagi and Luna see Rei for the first time. Rei has a vision of the kingdom when she looks at Usagi, she's confused by this vision, and gets off at her stop, not realizing that Usagi and Luna got off the bus right behind her. Usagi loses Rei after getting off the bus, Luna notices a shrine, and they check to see if Rei's inside.

Rei senses a demonic presence, but she won't allow it in her sacred shrine, Usagi shows up at the door, and Rei exorcises her, thinking she's an evil spirit. Rei apologizes, and soon after, more people talk about the "Demon 6:00 PM bus." There's not much that can be done for now, so Usagi and Luna leave the shrine. Once they meet back up with Ami, Usagi and Ami put on the watches that she won at the arcade, and Usagi and Luna decide to go visit Rei again. On the bus, Luna tells Usagi that the watches are communicators, and just as Luna was talking, she begins to meow like a cat, because Mamoru Chiba happens to be sitting next to them. This time, he's wearing a suit, not a tuxedo, in the middle of the afternoon. At first there's an uncomfortable silence between these two, then comes the small talk, finally Usagi chokes again due to embarrassment and shyness.

Rei looks into her mystical flames and sees a man attacking Usagi, so she runs after her. A bus appears, the doors open, and she sees the same man driving the bus...and we see that it's Jadeite, and he takes Rei hostage. As the bus is moving, Usagi sees that Rei's on board, and she takes out her transformation pen, and Usagi transforms into a flight attendant. Usagi sneaks onto the bus, lets go of Luna, but Tuxedo Mask is there to catch her in time. From here, the bus disappears into the wall. We then see all of the hostages that Jadeite captured, and he tells Nephrite that this will lure out the Sailor Guardians. Luna calls Usagi on her watch communicator so that she and Ami can track down Usagi's location, but in order to get a stronger signal, Usagi has to transform into Sailor Moon first. Once they locate her, Ami transforms into Sailor Mercury, and they teleport to Sailor Moon's location.

Jadeite proves to be too strong for Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury, so Rei tries to stop him. With anger, the symbol shows up on her forehead, and the guardians realize that Rei's a sailor guardian also. Luna tells Rei what she has to do, and we see Rei's first transformation into Sailor Mars. The three Sailor Guardians stopped Jadeite for now, but they may not have seen the last of him yet. The episode ends with a nice cliffhanger that makes the viewers wonder what will happen next...and what's in that treasure chest, the "Legendary Silver Crystal?"

Act three is another great episode of this brand new series. So far, the three episodes are full of action, humor, and touching moments that make viewers excited to come back for more, every two weeks, for the new episodes to air. It's a little strange seeing Rei being nice to Usagi, because in the original series, they didn't always get along, Rei was mean to Usagi. Seeing Sailor Mars' transformation for the first time was phenomenal, the flames make this one of the best transformation scenes out of the three Sailor Guardians, but they're all animated beautifully. I'll rate this episode a 4.5 out of 5 stars. Episode 4, titled "Masquerade Dance Party," will premiere on August 16th. Sailor Moon Crystal is the new anime for the 20th anniversary of Sailor Moon by Toei Animation Co., LTD. Sailor Moon characters created by Naoko Takeuchi, is directed by Munehisa Sakai, and licensed by Viz Media. New and past episodes stream on Crunchyroll, HULU, Viz/Neonalley, and Niconico.

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Jose has been a fan of animation since he was very young, and to this day, he still enjoys watching it. There's a difference between "cartoons" and "animation," well, that's what true fans would say. The majority of his DVR's consist of animated series' and he enjoys watching them when he gets the chance. Some of his favorites are Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks Animation, Marvel and DC Comics animation, and anime. Jose is also a big fan of the classics.